Word Origin & History

holistic 1926, coined, along with holism, by Gen. J.C. Smuts (1870-1950), from Gk. holos "whole" (see safe (adj.)). In reference to the theory that regards nature as consisting of wholes. Holistic medicine is first attested 1960.

Example Sentences for holistic

Although holism sees human beings as integral organisms, holistic approaches are inclined to have this physical focus.

Holistic therapies, like meditation, are "fringe" therapies.

This is a gain, but also a loss: the holistic meaning of experience vanishes.

Education needs to shift from the atomistic view that isolates subjects from the whole of reality to a holistic perspective.

Of these holistic therapies, bioenergetics is perhaps considered the most respectable because it is used by some psychologists.

Drawings are holistic units of a complexity difficult to compare to that of a text.